Stories of the Turf | Link to PDF of this info.
Sharing Life in the World of Maine Harness Racing
The Lost Trotting Parks Heritage Center
February 2016

This section of  the Lost Trotting Parks Online Museum presents the opportunity for members of the harness racing industry, fans, historian, and writers to tell the stories of Maine harness Racing. The story can be your story or the story about your family. The story can be you telling the story that was a significant moment in harness racing, or a story that you have been told — a story you believe needs to be shared. Stories submitted will be reviewed by S. Dexter Thompson and then posted to the website.

There are three options for your writing. When you read this document you will understand the intention of The Stories of the Turf. You will be provided with an overall direction and specific writing prompts. By reviewing these materials you may decide to write the article in Word or another word processing program prior to submitting it to Lost Trotting Parks. Your first option would be to write the article and then attach the Word file to an e-mail and send your e-mail to Sdexter@losttrottingparks.com. When you send this e-mail would also attach your photos. Provide a caption for each image. If you choose, this option, then I would submit the article and upload the photos to Lost Trotting Parks.

You have two online options. For the two online options you are required to enter your first name, your last name, your e-mail address, your telephone numbers, your current town or city and finally the Stable or employer. If you choose the e-mail approach you will need to provide this information.

You will only have one opportunity to enter your story so you will need to write your story in advance or on a computer.

After you have input your personal information you will be asked to select the categories that apply to you. You may select more than one. The categories are in the following order; Announcers, Drivers, Grooms, Judges, Other, Owners, Race Secretaries, Starting Car Drivers, Track Supervisor, and trainers.

When you complete selecting categories you are now ready to tell your story. If you wish to write your story without using Writing Prompts, then select Open Text Box. Enter your story. If you have a digital copy such as a Word File or a text file, you can copy and paste your article into the open text box. At the bottom of this form you can see that you can upload two jpeg or png photographs or images.

Using Writing Prompts

Your second writing option is to use the writing prompts option as your guide. Since you are given the writing prompts in this document, you can use them if you choose to pre-write your story. Use the Writing Prompts as Headers for each section of your story.

When you choose writing prompts you will see that you are required to select the prompts you want to use. When you select the prompts, only the prompts you selected will appear for input. You will also see that selected prompts allow you to upload photos. Again, these photos must be either jpeg or png files and not more than one megabyte.

The Writing Prompts in order are the following:

  1. How did you get started in harness racing? Include years in the business.
  2. Describe your current work.
  3. Describe your personal career goals related to harness racing.
  4. What motivates you to work in this industry?
  5. Describe your number one favorite horse.
  6. Describe you number two favorite horse.
  7. Name and describe your favorite track. Why?
  8. Describe your best moment. (a highlight)
  9. What do you consider the critical issues facing Maine harness racing today?
  10. Do you encourage others to become active in the harness racing industry? If so, what do you say?

Note: If you wish to be a teller of real stories, then use option one. Your story will be input into the open text box. Your best approach would be to write this story in advance and then copy and paste it into the open text box.

By writing and inputting your story you are giving the Lost Trotting Parks Heritage Center permission to publish your story online and to use your story in printed storyboards, articles and Lost Trotting Parks’ journal, S. Dexter’s Maine Spirit of the Turf. To date, this journal has been a digital publication that was downloaded from the website of the Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame located in Goshen, New York (http://harnessmuseum.com)

Stories of the Turf can be found as a menu item
on the LT.P website: https://losttrottingparks.com

For more information e-mail sdexter@losttrottingparks.com
or call Stephen Thompson at 207-242-7774